“Where Were You, God, When We Needed You?”

Rodrigo Duterte, the President of the Philippines, has been quite vocal in his effort to re-impose the death penalty in our country’s legal system (it was abolished in Philippine law in 2006). In a speech he delivered to the members of the Press Corps of in front of the Official Residence of the President of the Philippines last September 25, he connected his desire to have the death penalty with the question of God’s existence.

Where Was God?

Duterte said, “The death penalty has never been quite effective in our country because it was never fully imposed. Every president, because of the Catholic Church, would just say that only God can kill. So, where is … God when a one-year-old baby … 18-months-old baby is taken from the mother’s arms, brought under a jeep, and raped and killed? So where is God? So where is God? My God, where are you? I believe in God but that is my perpetual question to him. Where were you when we needed you?”

“Where were you, when we needed you?” I am sure that like Rodrigo Duterte, we have asked ourselves this question many times over in our lives. The question of God’s  existence has long been in man’s mind since time immemorial. For some, his existence has formed part of their core belief in life. While there are those who perpetually deny the existence of God or any divine figure whatsoever, there are those who profess belief in His existence but question His relevance and presence amidst the suffering that mankind experiences every day.

It is not my intention to answer the question of God’s existence with a theological or philosophical treatise in this article. What I intend to do is to look into three Gospel episodes which could shed light to those among us who continually want God to make His presence more felt in their lives.

The Calming of the Storm

The first episode comes during the violent storm that the Apostles find themselves in as narrated in the Gospel according to Mark (see Mark 4:35-41). In this episode, Mark describes the reaction of the apostles as their boat was caught in the middle of the storm. Some of them were experienced fishermen; yet when the strong winds blew, they became frightened and started to panic. And where was Jesus in all of these? Mark remarks that he was in the stern of the boat, with his head on a cushion, fast asleep. When his apostles see him fast asleep, they grow desperate and awaken him and ask him: “Teacher, do you not care if we perish?” (v. 38)

This question has been translated into so many forms in our lives. God, do you not care that I am beset with a life-threatening disease? Do you not care that my child is sick? Do you not care that there is so much violence in the world? Do you not care? In the midst of the storm, the Apostles felt that Jesus simply did not care. In fact, he was peacefully and silently asleep.

Many times, we encounter the deep silence of God in our lives. We continue to shout for Him to listen to our pleas and save us. Yet He remains silent and does not answer. Many times, we want Him to take an active and perhaps, noisy role in our lives. In the uncontrollable moments of life, we ask Him to take control and calm things down. But we all know that, more often than not, God neither takes control nor immediately calms things down. If there is one message that the episode of the calming of the storm seems to point out, it is this: Jesus can afford to remain asleep even in the midst of the storm, because even in the midst of chaos and uncertainty, he is in control. The silence of God does not mean His absence.

The Raising of Lazarus

The second Gospel episode is the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead (John 11:1-44). From the Gospels, we are made to understand that Jesus had a close friendship with Lazarus and his sisters Martha and Mary. However, what comes as a surprise is that when Jesus hears that Lazarus is terribly sick, he does not immediately go to Bethsaida, his place of residence. Instead, Jesus remains for two more days in the place where he was staying. Unlike his previous miracles, where there was a sense of urgency in the way he dealt with the request of the people around him for healing, Jesus deliberately delays going to Lazarus. The sense of urgency was not there. When Jesus finally decides to go, he is met by Martha with this statement: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died” (v. 21).

How many times, in the course of our prayers to God, have we also spoken to him the way Martha spoke to Jesus? Lord, if only you have listened, my child would not have died from this sickness. Lord, if only you were here, this tragedy would not have happened . God, if you truly existed, I would not have suffered like this. We do not only demand God to take an active and noisy role in our lives. We also demand from Him to have a sense of urgency when we ask something. We do not want Him to delay in answering. We do not want Him to tarry. We want Him to be present to us at once.

But as the story of the raising of Lazarus tells us, when God delays in answering our prayers, it is because He is preparing something better. When Jesus did not immediately come to heal Lazarus from his sickness, it was because he wanted to show something better than just removing the illness from Lazarus. He wanted to show that he does not only heal, he also raises people from the dead. The tardiness of God does not mean his absence or his lack of concern. When God is a little bit slow or late in answering our prayers, perhaps He is preparing us for something bigger and greater.

The Crucifixion

The third and final Gospel episode is the final hours of Jesus as he hung on the cross. Every Lenten season, we become witnesses to the drama of the Crucifixion. We all know how in the final moments of Jesus’ life, people still demanded a sign from him to prove his divinity. To be divine is to be powerful; hence, the cries of the crowd for Jesus to save himself and come down from the cross. We do not want to worship a weak and useless God. We want a God who saves. We want a God who is strong. We want a God who comes down from the cross. But as the centurion in the Gospel according to Mark teaches us, the Son of God can still be recognized in the dying Jesus on the cross (see Mark 15:39).  The suffering of God does not mean that He is weak and useless. The suffering of God on the cross means that His presence can still be felt and recognized even in the midst of the tragedies that we face every day.

Going back now to the question of President Rodrigo Duterte — “Where were You when we needed You?” As a man of faith, knowing that there were times that I also have posed the same question in my life, I answer him:

In the chaos of Philippine society, God is still in control. In His tardiness, in answering my countrymen’s plea for immediate justice, His justice is better and will eventually be given to the oppressed. In the face of the suffering that my countrymen have to bear because of poverty, God does not dwell in the halls of power, but He is one with those who suffer because he himself endured the suffering of the cross.